jimsjournal
| Almost like summer -- 04/20/05 |
jimsjournal |
||
|
It was delightfully warm today, almost like summer. I didn't realize at first that it had become so warm because the overnight coolness had stayed in the house. Then Jeremy came by to pick up some that chicken he had cut up and marinated yesterday. Oh, and to borrow my electric grill. He and his friends are having a cookout at the house they are renting. (He'll be back home in a couple of weeks -- this was just a winter rental.) Yesterday he had brought ten pounds of chicken breast, most of which he cut up and marinated in two different ways. (One batch in Spiedie Sauce and one batch in some thing he made from lemon juice and spices.) He realized that he had more chicken than he needed, so he decided to make some chicken soup. (Now here's why I think this kid can be a great cook.) He had never made chicken soup before, but he had an idea of what he wanted and the first thing he wanted was lots of chicken in it, large pieces of chicken. He also sauteed up some chopped up onions and green peppers. Then he cut up some carrots and tossed them in. And some (low sodium) chicken broth. And then some peas and green beans. And then some mini-penne pasta. Oh, that soup was delicious. The three of us each had a large bowl of it for our dinner (Okay, so Jeremy and I had a little bit more) and then Jill and I had to leave for class. (Nancy was playing tennis.) Jeremy stayed around long enough to feed Nancy his chicken soup when she got home. (And she had some leftover soup for her dinner tonight... before dashing off to play more tennis.) Ah, but I digress... Today I had thought it was cool outside (it had been when I brought in the newspaper at 6:30) but when I helped Jeremy take stuff out to his car I realized just how warm it had become. I then changed into shorts and t-shirt, more appropriate attire for the weather. I stopped work shortly after five and got dressed up to accompany Nancy to a furneral parlor for a wake for the mother of one of her colleagues. Then, back home and I changed into clothing more suitable for running and took off for the bike path. I ran five and a half miles, returning home at twilight, around eight o'clock. I really am beginning to feel like I've taken steps toward beginning to get back into shape. As I was on the return portion of my run I saw a dead snake lying on the bike path. As my foot landed next to him, he startled me by slithering away from my foot. A bit of a surprise! The sun had set and twilight was descending, but the blacktop (or tarmac as people who speak British English or who are fond of watching old movies about the Royal Air Force in WWII might call it) of the paved bike path must have soaked up the sunlight and was still radiating that warmth. Tomorrow I'm thinking of actually going to the office (I've not been there at all so far this month) and I also would like to get in a workout with the exercise bike and the weight bench. I'm taking a vacation day on Friday (this week has been spring break week at Nancy's school, which is why she had the time for so much tennis.... in fact, she's playing again tomorow) and (if it doesn't rain) we hope to get more yardwork done. Earlier in the week they were forecasting rain for Friday, now they seem to have pushed the chance of rain off to Saturday and Sunday. The forecast for Sunday says "chance of showers" -- Saturday seems likely to be rainy most of the day, Sunday is rated as forty percent chance of rain. I'm hoping the rain all comes on Saturday because on Sunday Gillian and I are going up to Massachusetts for that 10k race and I really don't want to spend an hour running in rain. Thinking back, the very first time I ran in a 10k race was on a very rainy spring Sunday... goodness, that must have been in '86 or '87... I was a bit younger then, only in my early forties. |
||||
|
